That timetable would mean Duchene likely would miss the first round of the playoffs, but possibly be available in the second round, if the Avalanche advances. Colorado's first-round opponent almost certainly will be the Chicago Blackhawks, and the series will open April 16 in Chicago or April 17 in Denver, depending on which team finishes second in the Central Division and secures the home-ice advantage.

The Avalanche (47-21-6) leads the Blackhawks (42-19-15) by one point in the standings, and Colorado next plays at Columbus on Tuesday night.

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The Avalanche does not make injured players available to the media, but Duchene communicated via Twitter and wouldn't rule out returning in time for the playoffs. Pieced together, his message was:

"Been waiting to tweet til the official release but just a few thoughts here for you guys. 100 pts & playoff bound is something all of us have been working towards for a long time. Something to be majorly proud of #AvsNation!

Colorado forward Matt Duchene (John Leyba, Denver Post file)

"Secondly, the thought of not playing in the first round for me has been devastating. We have outstanding medical and training staff that will be helping me to get healthy ASAP. I will be doing everything in my power to be ready for Game 1. And if not then, shortly after! We are a helluva team ready for the playoffs. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers they are greatly appreciated!"

Without Duchene, the Avalanche's major options, at least in the short term, are to slide John Mitchell into his spot centering Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn, or to move Nathan MacKinnon back to center. Mitchell centered the line against San Jose after Duchene was hurt on his first shift, but MacKinnon was skating there in the initial stages of practice Monday. After practice, Roy said that at least for the near future he would use MacKinnon at center on that line. He said he would put Mitchell at wing on the line with Paul Stastny and Gabriel Landeskog. (Landeskog didn't skate Monday, but Roy said it was a rest day for the team captain and that he would play at Columbus.)

The move of MacKinnon back to center, Roy said, was "just to give us different options. You can't just go 'bang' in the playoffs and try that. It's good to try different things. Our situation in the standings allows us to do this."

The wild card in all of that is the possible return of winger P.A. Parenteau, who has been out three weeks with a sprained MCL, but skated hard on his own for about 15 minutes before his teammates came on the ice Monday. Roy said he hoped Parenteau would play the final game of the regular season, at Anaheim on April 13.

"If not, we're pretty confident that he will be back for the first game against Chicago," Roy added.

Before heading to the airport for their chartered flight to Columbus, the Avalanche players were upbeat despite the injury news. "Dutchy's obviously a big piece, but we have to stay positive and continue on," said McGinn.

McGinn said he thought Mitchell "did a great job" on the line against San Jose. He added of playing with MacKinnon, "I think Nate's pretty similar to Dutchy. He has a lot of speed up through the middle, so we're just going to continue to play the same way and use systems and work as hard as we can. We've dealt with injuries all year, and I think we've done a pretty good job."

McGinn said he and Duchene "just ran into each other. We were both going for the puck. I think we both tried to get out of the way and maybe that's what made ourselves vulnerable. It was just a freak play ... I felt a tweak, but obviously not to the extent of Dutchy."

MacKinnon, 18, said he was fine with moving back to center.

"Hockey's hockey and I'm sure people will think I feel pressure, but I don't," he said. "That's the least pressure situation I've been in all year, I think."

He added of playing with O'Reilly and McGinn: "I'm just going to try and step in and create some chemistry with them. They'll be easy guys to play with. The way they play, they play a simple game, a give-and-go game, and that's what I like best. I like guys who move the puck quick and keep it simple. Especially in this league, you can't get too fancy. These two guys are big-time players. Factor (O'Reilly) has had a heck of a year and Ginner (McGinn) is big and physical.

"I'm not going to replace Dutchy. That's just not going to happen. He's been one of our best players and you can't replace him, especially at this time of year. It's going to be tough, but we're going to have to find wins without him."

O'Reilly said Duchene's absence represented "a challenge to step up ... He's big on the power play and big with his offensive ability, the way he moves the puck and creates with the puck. So for me, I have to step up that way and make sure I'm contributing. Nate's a great player as well and has great speed in the middle. It's going to be good. I've played with him a couple of times before, and when you play at this level, everyone can find some chemistry with everyone."

O'Reilly, a natural center who played there for most of his first four seasons in the league before moving to wing under Roy, said that as far as he knows, no consideration had been given to him moving back to the middle in the wake of the Duchene injury.

"I do love center and miss it a bit," he said. "But I like playing the wing and I think it's good when I can be versatile like that."

Mitchell said that regardless of which line he's skating with, "I just have to go out there and play my game and try and do whatever I can, offensively, defensively in any situation. It's obviously tough to fill someone's role like Dutchy's, but I'm going to do the best I can. I know that we've made the playoffs, but we want to strive for home-ice advantage."

Stastny called the Duchene injury "tough luck ... With him, you just hope he gets back as quick as possible and doesn't come back too early, doesn't rush it and is smart about it. For us, it's just another situation where we can't use an excuse, we just keep playing the way we've been playing. We've got different line combinations now, but different guys will step up. All these guys have played with each other, with different guys, and I think we're kind of fortunate to have a lot of centers and wingers who have played different line combinations."

For his part, Roy reprised a familiar theme. "We've been finding ways to win since the start of the year," he said.

Only two Avalanche players — MacKinnon and Patrick Bordeleau — have appeared in all 74 games. Duchene missed three games in November with an oblique injury, and the Avalanche was 3-0 in those games. Colorado beat Chicago 5-1 at home, then won twice in overtime on the road — at Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Duchene's 70 points lead the Avalanche, and his 23 goals are tied for third on the team with MacKinnon, behind O'Reilly (26) and Landeskog (24).

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